A 22-year old Mwenezi woman who had an illicit affair while her husband was in prison dug a hole in a riverbed and buried her newly born baby alive after getting news that the husband was just about to be released from prison.

Enita Zhou of Village 4 Khayalami under Chief Maranda in Mwenezi buried her baby in Sosonye River on March 21, 2019.

She told Mwenezi Resident Magistrate, Honesty Musiiwa on Friday last week that the child was born out of wedlock and she feared the worst from her husband when he came from prison.

Musiiwa found the accused guilty of infanticide and slapped her with 30 months in prison and he suspended 10 months for five years on condition that she does not commit a similar crime.

“I committed the crime because the child did not belong to my husband. I got pregnant when he was in prison and I don’t know how he is going to react to the news,” said Zhou.

The State said Zhou gave birth to a baby boy on March 19, 2019 at Mwenezi Clinic. On March 21 2019, the accused lied to the nurses and requested to be discharged saying she was going to be picked by her uncle who was coming from Masvingo.

Zhou proceeded to Sosonye River and she dug out a hole and buried the baby on the sandy river bed. She proceeded home and lied to Rhodha Zhou her sister that she had a still birth and the corpse was buried by nurses.

The sister became suspicious and she searched Zhou’s bags and found a baby clinic card which showed that she had a normal delivery. The sister interviewed her and she confessed that she buried the baby alive.